Oscar LeRoy: Steers stay resilient after tough week

Published 7:00 pm, Monday, October 13, 2008

Big Spring High School football coach Phillip Ritchey was put into a situation last week that no coach wants to be put in and would never wish it on another coach.

What happens when you get a call the night before a game that four of your starters have been involved in a car accident? A million different things can go through your mind, the last of which is football.

That was the case last Thursday when Ritchey found out that running back Monte Anderson, defensive tackle Steven Henry, safety Tyrone Clemons and defensive end Quentin Ausbie were involved in a one-car accident the night before the Steers' big game against No. 10-ranked Wolfforth Frenship. None of the injuries was serious but the players suffered concussions and Anderson also suffered a deep cut in his left forearm. All the injuries were enough to keep all of them out for the game. Ritchey and everyone else knows that the news could have been much worse.

"My first reaction was I just hoped and prayed that the players were safe and survived," Ritchey said. "Football kind of gets put in perspective when something like that happens. Their lives are much more important than winning a football game."

When the initial shock of the accident wore off, Ritchey and his coaching staff went to work to adjust to having four more players out for the game. The Steers already were without middle linebacker Cade Hollandsworth (knee) and running back/linebacker Martin Yanez (concussion).

"All day we were scrambling, rearranging some things and adjusting our game plan a little bit," Ritchey said.

Fortunately, the Steers have enough capable talent to fill in those spots. Zamir Linton moved to tailback, Matt Gwin filled in for Ausbie at defensive end, Justin Yanez took Henry's place, and Sidney Parker filled in at safety.

"The kids that came in for those guys are great athletes, just like the ones we lost," Ritchey said. "Just our depth was affected. We just didn't have the depth we had before that happened."

It would have been easy for the Steers to make excuses after the 39-21 loss and they probably would have had a reason. But despite being shorthanded, the Steers hung tough and played hard against a very talented and well-balanced Frenship team. Unfortunately, the Tigers took advantage of special teams mistakes and great field position throughout the game to defeat Big Spring and remained undefeated on the season at 6-0 overall and 1-0 in District 4-4A.

After the game, Ritchey said he was proud of the way his team gutted it out and never gave up.

"I don't care what that scoreboard says, we've got a good football team," Ritchey said. "If we continue to have that kind of effort, we're going to be playing for a long time.'

At 3-3 overall and 0-1 in 4-4A, there is still a long way to go for the Steers and there is still time for the Steers to show the rest of the district just how good they are. Don't worry Steers' fans, be proud because this team has had to overcome more adversity than most teams should go through. The main thing for these Steers is to get healthy. Hopefully for Ritchey and his team, that's just around the corner.

Big Spring heads to Plainview (2-4, 0-1) this Friday.

IN OTHER GAMES: Greenwood got a big road victory with a 28-27 win over Brownfield in the District 3-3A opener.

Brownfield had beaten Greenwood by a similar score the year before but the Rangers got their revenge in a game that meant much more than last year when the teams weren't in the same district.

A win for the Rangers (3-3, 1-0) over a team that many coaches felt would challenge for the district title this season should give the Rangers more confidence and more fuel to their fire to prove their doubters wrong.

Over in District 4-2A, Kermit pulled off a 9-7 upset victory at Crane.

Kermit (6-0, 1-0) had been playing well but for the Yellow Jackets to hold Crane (4-2, 0-1) to just seven points is surprising.

I'm confident the Golden Cranes will bounce back, but if anybody thought Crane was just going to run away with this district title, they were sadly mistaken.

AREA GAME TO WATCH: An interesting game involving our area schools will be Monahans (5-1, 1-0 in District 3-3A) visiting Andrews (2-4, 1-0) on Friday .

A few weeks ago, this game looked to be very one-sided but the Mustangs have reeled off two consecutive victories after a 46-14 win at Lamesa and they might be hosting the Loboes at the right time.

Monahans has won four straight after a close 22-14 victory over Seminole but the Loboes better not fall asleep on this one because the Mustangs have improved each week under head coach Jeff Cordell.